A Meeting That Will Never Take Place
by The Scarletclad Mage
Summary: A very short piece involving what might have taken place during a meeting between Raistlin and Crysania during the Chaos WAr. Please R&R.


A Meeting That Will Never Take Place

The silver moonlight of Solinari streamed in through the open window in the Temple of Paladine, illuminating the soft ebony hair of the Revered Daughter that slept. Her room was scantly furnished, for she did not need frivolous things and used only what was absolutely necessary. From the shadows of this room, a figure discerned itself from the darkness. The bright moonlight caught the delicate silver runes were embroidered upon the robe and set them shimmering. The figure hid deep within his cowl, the hands that gleamed faintly metallic the only visible part of the body. He gazed at the cleric and, his robes gently floating about his ankles, padded softly to sit on her bed. At the feel of the warm weight next to her, the cleric awoke, startled.

"Who's there?" she asked fearfully, her blind eyes searching hopelessly in the dark. She reached out a hand and gingerly felt the face of the mage who sat at her side. 

"Revered Daughter," the mage spoke in a whispering voice, a voice that made the cleric's heart skip a beat. "Do you remember me?" The cleric grabbed the medallion of Paladine she always wore around her neck and murmured softly, "Can it be?" She touched his face again. "Raistlin?"

The mage took her hand and kissed it softly. "Yes, it is I, Crysania. I am here." The cleric's blind eyes could not weep, yet she gave a soft sob and wrenched her hand from his.

"Raistlin, you are dead. You died in the Portal and were granted eternal sleep for your sacrifice by Paladine. This knowledge was given to your brother Caramon in a dream. This is impossible…_I_ am the one dreaming," Crysania whispered fearfully, yet even as she spoke, the familiar smell of rose petals wafted over her, held her enthralled.

Raistlin smiled faintly. "Paladine did pass judgment on me. Yet, it seemed, the world needed me more. Palin entered the Portal and was nearly killed by my sister. He needed to return to his plain of existence to survive the wound. Takhisis cast me out as well, bereft of my power. I come bearing a warning, for Chaos, the Father of All and Nothing was released from the Gray Gem and intends to destroy this world. You are not dreaming, Crysania." He touched her eyes. "You are blind," he whispered sadly.

Crysania closed her eyes, the memories of deep pain flashing vividly back...

_"Crysania," he murmured._

_"Raistlin?" Her face was horribly burned, sightless eyes stared into the emptiness around her, she reach out a hand that was little more than a blackened claw. "Raistlin?" She moaned in agony._

_His hand closed over hers. "I can't see!" she whimpered. "All is darkness! Is that you?"_

_"Yes," he said._

_"Raistlin, I've failed-"_

_"No, Crysania, you have not," he said, his voice cool and even, "I am unharmed. My magic is strong now, stronger than it has ever been before in any of the times I have lived. I will forward, now, and defeat the Dark Queen."_

_The cracked and blistered lips parted in a smile. The hand holding Raistlin's tightened it's feeble grasp. "Then my prayers have been granted." She choked, a spasm of pain twisting her body. When she could draw breath, she whispered something. Raistlin bent close to hear. "I am dying, Raistlin. I am weakened past endurance. Soon, Paladine will take me to him. Stay with me, Raistlin. Stay with me while I die...."_

_Reaching out his other, he freed himself from her clinging grasp. "Raistlin!" she cried, her hand clutching out at the empty air in terror._

_"You have served my purpose, Revered Daughter," Raistlin said, his voice as smooth and cold as the silver blade of the dagger he wore at his wrist. "Time presses. Even now come those to the Portal at Palantha__s who will try to stop me. I must challenge the Queen, fight my final battle with her minions. Then, when I have won, I must return to the Portal and enter it before anyone has a chance to stop me."_

_"Raistlin, don't leave me! Please don't leave me alone in the darkness!"_

_Leaning upon the Staff of Magius, which now gleamed with a bright, radiant light, Raistlin rose to his feet. "Farewell, Revered Daughter," he said in a soft, hissing whisper. "I need you no longer."_

"Only when I became blind was I finally able to see clearly. That you were evil!" Crysania turned on the mage, her voice caught in her throat. _He left me to die, _she thought. "Certainly you come to warn someone of more power than I to stop this god, such as the Knights. Why have you come here, Raistlin? You have haunted me in dreams for twenty-five years and now have you come to haunt my reality as well?"

Raistlin looked down at his hands, hands that burned bronze in Lunitari's light. When he spoke, his voice low and wet with his heart's blood. "I wanted to tell you…"

"Tell me what? That you regret what you did? That you would ask for my forgiveness? Not you! Never you!" Crysania's angry words echoed Astinus and cut Raistlin like a knife. He winced, knowing that he deserved that and much more. Yet, he looked at her in her fury and remembered the woman as she was in the forest near Caergoth, the love in those eyes, holding her close in his arms, kissing the smooth skin... 

"I wanted to tell you," he whispered huskily, his hands finding hers once more, "that, sometimes, in my deep sleep I dreamt of you…" 


End file.
